The statue to be unveilled this Friday. – Pic courtesy of social media
By Nenenji Mlangeni
LILONGWE-(MaraviPost)-Statue of former president, late Bingu wa Mutharika, has been erected at the Parliament Building in Lilongwe and President Peter Mutharika will commission it on Friday.
The Chief Secretary to Malawi government, Lloyd Muhara, says in a statement that the unveiling will be followed by a memorial service of the former president who died with heart attack on 5 April, 2012.
Minister of Finance, Goodall Gondwe on Thursday disclosed that the statue has cost Malawians MK65 million from the initial budget of MK15 million.
“This is the very same figure as we bought the statue for Kamuzu Banda. The figure has changed because of devaluation. We have had large devaluation in between and a very large inflation rate. We were wrong to have budgeted that low,” said Gondwe.
According to Zodiak Online, Malawi government used a single sourcing arrangement in identifying contractor for the project.
Minister of Information Henry Musa, however, said: “I am not sure but we do have provisions within laws of Public Procurement Act that allow such a consideration in view of urgency of the matter and priority at any given time.”
The late Mutharika was elected Malawi’s president in 2004.
